


Cube Land

by AdminVideo



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-07-01 23:00:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15783873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdminVideo/pseuds/AdminVideo
Summary: After a wild night of...well, reading, a young girl gets pulled into the game she loves most. Except when she becomes basically adopted by some of the most feared mobs in Minecraft, "getting out" might not be an option.





	1. Joan?

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a complete rewrite of my first Minecraft fanfiction, Cube Land, that was originally posted on ff.net. I originally wrote and posted the work when I was 12 years old. I've come a long way since then, so I decided to redo it. I hope you enjoy it!

_Prologue: Joan?_

\----

_At the guillotine, a woman stands, hands bound behind her back. She's dressed in a raggedy grey shift with no shoes. The paper-white skin of her face contrasts with the darkness of the rest of her body, and her neon purple eyes scan the crowd with calculated intent._

_She is a prisoner of war, wanted for the slaughter of thousands and captured in the heat of the moment. Now, she awaits her fate._

_Her claws twitch as the decree is read by her captor._

_“Queen of the Enders, your time has come. You are charged with the genocide of thousands of people and the destruction of hundreds of homes and villages. The public has called for your execution. What do you plead?”_

_The Queen remains silent. She knows doing so will cause her death, and yet she does so anyway._

_Her captor glares at her before signaling to the executioner, who in turn pushes her down into the stocks. The executioner takes his place as her captor kneels down in front of her. “Any last words?”_

_Finally, the Queen speaks. “Get out of my face.”_

_The look on her face is so murderous that her captor stumbles out of the way. Her attention turns to the crowd below._

_“You may have won this time,” she calls, her voice blanketing the area, “yet you will not win forever. I **will** return. I **will** have my revenge. And you **will** all fear again. I am Joan, the Enderdragon, Queen of the Ender race, and this is my decree.”_

_Settling back in her place, her head raised high, she nods to the executioner. On her command, he releases the rope._

_The blade falls, and within the next moment, her head is off her shoulders, falling into the basket below. The crowd lets up a cheer. The evil has been defeated._

_The cheer doesn't last long. Lightning strikes the dead center of the crowd, seemingly from nowhere, killing a group instantly. The commoners have no time to react as a whole army of endermen, led by a man with glowing white eyes, burst out of the surrounding trees with screeches of battle escaping from their mouths._

\--

My phone lands smack on my face, and I give an “ow” in response, pulling it off and staring up at the ceiling of the dark room.

I had just read a fanfiction, and it was awesome. The whole story with the Queens and Herobrine and just everything! I wish there had been more. In the darkness, I replay the scenes in my head, reliving the experiences as if I were actually there.

Eventually, I look over at the clock on my nightstand. The bright light reads two twenty-six am, and I give a groan. I didn't mean to stay up so late reading, and I know I can't sleep now.

But I have to try, so I roll over and plug in my phone to its charger on the side of my bed, pulling out my headphones and dropping them on the floor. Curling up under the covers, I stare up at the ceiling.

Finally, after tossing and turning for a good while, I drift off to sleep.

\--

My dreams are full of destruction, and yet a pair of glowing white eyes pierces through the darkness as I finally open my own. They’re the only light source in the room, save for the dim light coming from my alarm clock.

I sit up in bed, straining my eyes to see the rest of his form. It comes into view slowly - tall and lean, with dark hair and wearing a light shirt with dark pants. There seems to be some sort of weapon strapped to his back.

The more I wake up - am I awake? Nothing feels real - the more I realize I recognize this man.

It's Herobrine. I've read about him before. But he's not real, is he? He can't be real.

Curiosity - and more fear than I'd like to admit - makes me hop out of bed, cautiously creeping closer to the looming figure. I read somewhere that he disappears when approached, but that isn't true - his form is still solid as I stand face-to-face with him. We stare each other down for a good while.

Eventually, wordlessly, he raises his arm, putting his hand on my left shoulder. Sparks shoot up from where the skin touches my shirt, and I stumble backwards in shock, feeling a numbing sensation travel down through my arm and up my neck. I drop to my knees, holding my arm close to my body as everything starts to go dark.

I hear a voice in my head right before I pass out.

_Welcome back, Joan._


	2. Beginning

# Cube Land

_Chapter One: Beginning_

\-----

My head hurts.

The sunlight glares down on my face as I open my eyes, immediately closing them again with a noise of distress as the light burns them. The image of the sun is plastered on my eyelids, and I put my right hand out in front of my face to block the light as I open my eyes again.

I can feel wind blowing softly as I sit up, still shielding my face from the sunlight as I glance around. I seem to be sitting on the sloping part of a hill. It continues downwards to a valley below, and there seems to be a sort of settlement in the distance. Trees dot the landscape, and wildflowers grow in abundance amongst the grass.

I blink. Where am I? This area doesn't seem familiar to me at all - it is definitely not my room, either. So…

This is when I notice my left arm has been tingling this whole time. I lift it up, jiggling it around a bit. It acts as if made of gelatin. That's gross. I grimace and let it drop. Note to self: that arm is unusable.

Pushing myself up to my feet, I dust my hand on my white capri pants and glance over myself. There's a white t-shirt on me, with afformented pants and white shoes. My skin is pale and definitely not flattered by all the white. There is a backpack sitting next to me, and when I open it I find nothing in it. So much for that.

Whatever. I sling the backpack over my right shoulder and head off to find some shade, also known as the nearest tree.

There's a nagging voice in my mind, one that is saying _get resources_ as I encounter the tree and slump against it. It’s making my head throb the more I focus on it, and I shake my head to clear it away, but that doesn't work. So the next totally logical thing I do is smack my head against the tree to see if that'll rattle my brain enough to make the thought go away.

In response, I hear a ‘pop’ sound and the spot on the tree where I hit my head is replaced by air.

My head snaps over as I turn around to look over at the spot. There is a section of the tree trunk that is gone, and there is a floating cube that looks like a pixelated version of the wood on the ground. The weirdest thing, though, is that the rest of the tree is floating in the air even with a piece of its trunk missing. Its leaves sway nonchalantly in the breeze.

I frown in confusion and pick up the cube. It resizes to fit neatly into my hand. When I place it back down, it resizes again, so that now I have a piece of the tree trunk on the ground and the rest of the tree floating in the air. The visual looks almost like a video game glitch.

My mind is just making repeated question marks at this point, with the occasional _what_ and _why_ and _how is this possible_ sprinkled throughout. I don't even notice myself making a noise that conveys exactly how I feel. Is this a video game? A weird video game dream? I've had those before, but this is way too realistic.

Wait. Video game. Cubes. Floating trees.

Minecraft.

I deadpan. _You've got to be kidding me._

I kick the part of the tree trunk that's on the ground and it turns into a floating cube again with another pop. I play this game so much I'm dreaming about it. Incredible.

I sigh and pick up the cube as it resizes into my hand again. Well, I might as well roll with it until I wake up. Not like I have anything better to do; this may prove to be fun. At least I know what to do now.

I set to punching the rest of the tree trunk with my good hand. The sun is directly overhead, and I have about five blocks of oak wood and four saplings when I finish.

I start to replant the saplings just as the area comes to life, as if I've earned an achievement. I hear distant moo’s and baa’s, and a few pigs come trotting over the other side of the hill with their snouts to the ground, searching for food. I smile - I've always loved the passive mobs of Minecraft.

As I stand up and brush the dirt off my pants, one of the pigs comes up to me and bonks my knee with its snout. I look over at it before bending down and scratching it behind its ear. “Sorry little guy, I don't have any food on me,” I say, to which it gives a sad oink in response.

My own stomach rumbles as soon as I mention food. I hold it for a second, and then gaze off towards the settlement in the distance. It doesn't look too far away, and I bet they'll have some food stashed in those house. Since this is Minecraft, there'll be farms scattered around where I can just pick up the food myself.

So I head off in that direction, backpack and the rest of my stuff in tow.

It takes a while, but I manage to reach the village right around evening. I immediately set about to finding the plots of land that contain the food, finding them all situated in the back of the area. It isn't hard to harvest the wheat, carrots, and potatoes - and when I say harvest, I mean just tearing them out of the dirt and shoving them in my backpack until its full. I do go back and replant one of each that I took out, though, so as not to be mean.

By the time I'm finished, I have a heavy backpack and the sky is darkening fast. I hurry up and duck into one of the small houses, finding it brightly lit and, most of all, empty. Strange. Usually there's villagers scrambling about, trying to find a place to settle for the night to avoid the zombies.

I attempt to close the door behind me, and yet it jams on something while a loud squeal is heard. I look back and see the pig from earlier stuck in the door frame. I give a noise of affection and open up the door wider to let it in, and it trots in happily and heads over to a corner. I close the door and follow after it, sitting down in the corner and pulling out two carrots from my backpack. One goes to the pig, which it munches on happily, and one I bite thoughtfully.

I can feel the fatigue in my bones as I finish my carrot and slouch against the wall. I give a yawn, setting my backpack to the side and laying on the wooden floor. Whew. It's been a day.

Sleep overtakes me just as I hear the door opening.

\--

_The door opens to a small village girl with close-cropped hair and one white eye, carrying a bowl of mushroom stew in her hand. She steps in and closes the door behind her before noticing the player and her pig asleep on the floor._

_With a frown, she blinks once, and the world around her dissolves into code. She sees the lines of numbers and letters running through the player’s left arm, slowly breaking apart with each passing moment._

_“Why did…?” she asks to herself, looking further into the code of the player. She sees something that could only be described as an aura around her core; a royal purple color that pulses with energy stored, energy waiting to be tapped into._

_The girl searches more, and then gives an ‘ah’, setting down the stew next to the player before heading back out into the night._


	3. Wolves

_Chapter Two: Wolves_

\------

I wake up on my own. It's a surprising contrast from being woken up early in the morning by my parents.

Sunlight gleams down from the window, casting a glow over the area - an area that I don't immediately recognize. I frown, sitting up from the hardwood floor and gazing over the small cabin. Where am I, and how did I get here?

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes and standing up, I hear a soft _oink_ next to me. I glance down and see the pig that had slept next to me slowly waking up as well, and that's when everything clicks again.

Right. Minecraft dream.

I put my right hand on my hip and simply watch the pig. Something doesn't sit right. This feels too realistic to just be a dream. But do I have any other explanation for it?

Hm. I guess not.

I spend some time looking over my left arm - still all wonky, even though I can move it slightly - and then digging through my backpack. I have about five blocks of wood in there - all the saplings I planted the other day. Since this is Minecraft, I guess I’d better get to crafting.

Pulling out the blocks of wood, I frown as I hold the small stack in my hand. How do I do this? I know that four wooden planks equals a crafting table, but I have to get these into planks first. So how…?

I drop the wood onto the floor. It simply resizes into the floating cubes from the day earlier. Frowning more deeply, I pick it up again and throw a block at the wall. It does the same thing again, and my pig trots out of the way of it. I let out an exasperated groan and pick up the block again, simply crushing the stack between my hands.

Surprisingly, that works, because when I open my hands I find I have a stack of twenty oak wood planks sitting in my right palm. Huh. So that’s a thing.

Taking four of the planks, I smash them in my hands again and, upon releasing, out pops a crafting table. Nice. I place the crafting table in a corner of the cabin, starting to put together some tools from the meager supplies that I have.

With the amount of wood that I have, I am able to make a wooden pickaxe and axe with a few sticks left over. I stuff the axe into my backpack and sling it over my shoulder, holding my pickaxe in my good hand before looking over myself again. I feel like a real Minecraftian.

That’s so cool.

As I start to head out, my foot knocks over something on the floor and I step back, watching a sort of thick brown liquid spill out of a wooden bowl. I squat down and look over it as my pig noses the bowl before licking up the liquid with snorts of delight.

“When did this get here?” I ask to no one in particular, setting down my pickaxe and picking up the bowl. It drips a bit with the leftover substance, and I eye it for a bit before turning to the pig. “Did you put this here?”

The pig, in return, glances up at me and gives a snort before turning back to its meal. I take that as a no.

Allowing the pig to lick the bowl clean, I stuff it into my already-crowded backpack before picking up my pickaxe again and heading out the door with the pig trotting after me.

Away from the village I head, towards the hill where I first woke up on. It’s a pretty short walk, yet when I reach a steep section of the hill the sun is directly overhead. I guess I slept late enough to have it be noon by now.

Climbing up the slope, I reach a sheer drop to the other side. It doesn’t seem very steep- only about twice or three times my height- so I vault over it and land on my feet on the other side. Here, there are two small lakes to my right, an abundance of trees and wildlife, and a small cave to my left that seems to already have been slightly dug into. A half-finished shelter is also present in the near distance.

Weighing my options, I opt for the cave first, turning and heading in that direction.

Mining is the easy part. I simply smash the pickaxe against the rocks until they break into cobblestone blocks, which I pick up and shove into my backpack. It’s the fact that I’m doing it with only one arm is the hard part. It gets tired easily, and I switch from mining cobblestone to chopping down trees within the hour. Or, whatever feels like an hour. Time doesn’t seem to pass normally.

I go back and forth for a while, and by the time I’m fully exhausted, I drag myself over to the nearest lake and drop all my stuff on the sandy shore. Taking off my shoes and socks, I sit down on the ground and put my feet in the water. The coolness of it is refreshing, and soon enough I just straight up splash into the lake completely.

As I float in the water, I notice some fish swimming by below the surface, avoiding my body as it crosses their paths. I smile and sigh happily, watching the sun as it starts to set over the horizon.

It takes a moment to register that sunset equals nighttime which equals monsters, and as soon as I do I scramble out of the water and dry my clothes and hair off as best as I can. It’s futile, though, as I’m still dripping wet when I realize there really isn’t a way out of this valley.

But can I mine a way out? Of course! The precipice is only about six blocks tall.

I slip on my socks and shoes and grab my backpack, rushing over to the edge of the valley and searching for my pickaxe. It’s in my backpack, and as soon as I pull it out I start mining. The sun is quickly setting over the horizon, casting heavy shadows over the area.

I’m only about two blocks up when my pickaxe breaks. I curse under my breath and try to jump up the rest of the height, but to no avail.

That’s when I start to hear the zombies.

Freezing up in my spot, I turn around slowly to see a group of zombies shambling towards me from across the area. There aren’t many of them - about three - but it’s enough to make panic start to rise in my throat. I was never very brave when I played Minecraft - I would rather sit in a hole in the ground lit by only a single torch and wait for the day to come back than be out monster hunting - but I have to be now, since there’s no way out.

I frantically dig around in my backpack for my almost-broken axe, and when I pull it out I hold it in front of me with my good hand, my whole body shaking. The zombies creep closer and closer in the growing darkness, and the smell of rotting flesh doesn’t really help curb my fear.

Gripping my axe tighter in my hand, I wait for a zombie to come close enough within range before swinging my weapon at it. The wood splinters into tiny pieces upon impact, but the zombie stumbles back a bit with its taking damage sound effect. The others move closer to me, and I kick out desperately, catching one in the chest and knocking it back. The other I kick in the head, forcing it down onto its back on the ground.

Now it’s just a game of seeing who tires out the fastest. My kicks don’t seem to be doing any damage, and the more I force the zombies away from me, the more I see heading towards me in the distance. I can feel myself growing weaker already - I’m not used to this much physical exertion.

So I do something absolutely stupid - I pull myself up and jump over the zombies’ heads, landing hard on the ground behind the group closest to me, and take off running in a random direction. My legs move automatically, even though I can feel the weariness in them, and the zombies’ groans are getting farther away—

_Smack._

I run face-first into a tree and slide down the trunk, feeling a sharp pain shoot through my head from my nose. Breathing rapidly, I hold my hand against it, feeling a warm liquid running down from it. When I pull my hand away I realize the liquid is blood.

Panicking more, I turn around from my spot on the ground and see the horde of zombies - now about fifteen of them - shambling closer and closer with each passing moment. I try to stand, but my legs are refusing to work, and my uncontrollable shaking coupled with my rapid breathing and blood loss and pain from my nose are making black spots swim at the corners of my vision.

I’m screwed.

I close my eyes and curl into myself as the zombies get closer still, forcing back a sob. I have no tools, no weapons, no energy to defend myself anymore. I just want this to be over.

After a few seconds, just as I sense the zombies starting to surround me, I hear the howl of many wolves in the distance. Opening one eye and straining to see through my tears, I notice a flurry of the mob in question descend upon the zombies, knocking them away from me and effectively killing some of them. The zombies killed despawn in a puff of pixelated smoke.

More wolves descend into the valley and the zombies are dispatched easily by their attacks. My fears aren’t quelled, though, as the wolves turn to surround and face me. I notice that they all have collars - cyan-colored ones, not a color of anyone I recognize. So who…?

I still can’t get my breathing under control. The hyperventilating I am doing is causing more black spots to swim in my vision, and fatigue is setting in my entire body even as I still shake.

The wolves whine loudly, pacing around me and some of them even climb up into my lap. One of them puts its paw onto my nose, and as I cry out in pain it immediately retracts the paw with a whine.

I hear footsteps coming from my right, and I look over to see a tall man with a silver hooded cloak heading towards me. I shrink away from his gaze, but the wolves circle around him as if he is their owner. He stares down at me beneath the hood, and I stare back, still shaking.

“...You’re bleeding,” is all he says, his voice giving away a youthful sort of pitch, as if he is only a few years older than me.

I don’t respond, still staring at him. I absently notice the blood running rivulets down my face and dripping off my chin. At least my breathing is slowed more now.

He steps closer once, and I lean away from him, the fear reflecting in my eyes. He sees this and stops, instead slowly extending out his hand to me. “It’s alright, I won’t hurt you.”

“W-who are you?” I stutter, my eyes flicking back and forth from his hand to his face. “What do you want with me?”

“I want to help,” he says, and I now recognize the urgency in his voice. “Come with me. It isn’t safe here.”

I bite my lip and reach out a shaking hand, grasping his outstretched one. He pulls me up with surprising strength and I stumble, falling against him as he picks me up and hefts me onto his back. “Hold tight,” is all he says before he starts to sprint out of the area.

——

_The left-behind pig watches as the two leave the valley with an uncannily humanlike gaze, sitting quietly on the ground. It tilts its head once as the man leaps over the ledge with ease, disappearing off into the night with the player in tow._

_Its form shifts, and in a split second stands a man with white eyes where the pig once stood. He crosses his arms and frowns._

_**This was not part of the plan,** he says, his voice ringing in the minds of those around. **He was never part of the equation.**_

_Some of the Overworld mobs shamble towards him, simply watching him while not getting too close. He pays no attention to them, starting to head off in the direction of the village beyond the valley._

_**Perhaps Eva will be able to change their minds.** _


	4. Code

_Chapter Three: Code_

———

“We need to talk.”

I scowl at my savior, sitting on the side of a bed in I assume one of the many bedrooms in this castle. I’ve been residing here for a few days now, first in fear, and then slightly more comfortably, keeping in mind the man - whose name is Chowder - and his wolves will protect me from the mobs outside. If it weren’t for him and his pack, I would have died that night.

But I still haven’t woken up from this dream.

Chowder leans against the doorframe, arms crossed in front of him. Instead of the cloak I saw him wearing that first night, he wears a teal hoodie with the hood down and loose jeans. I can see little wolf ears poking out from his short blond hair, twitching in agitation. Seems that neither of us are particularly happy with the conversation about to happen.

“You’re a new player, I can tell,” he continues, eyeing me. “Outside at night with no weapon or anything against a horde of zombies.”

I don’t meet his gaze and instead watch the wolves flitting in and out of the room seemingly at random. One of them sits up on my bed, watching me carefully.

“I had an axe,” I say in response, “but it broke.” I reach over and hold out my left hand for the wolf, which it sniffs at curiously before growling at it. I quickly pull that hand away. “Besides, isn’t this a dream? If I die, I wake up, right?”

I can feel Chowder’s gaze boring into my side, and when I look up at him I see his face reflecting incredulousness. “Excuse me?”

“What?” I tilt my head. “Am I not right? Do I not wake up if I die?”

Chowder puts his hands to his temples and rubs them with a sigh of exasperation. “You can’t wake up,” he says. “This is not a dream.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Nope.” He runs a hand through his hair, his ears twitching. “I’ve been here, in this game, for a good while now. About a year or two. It’s easy to lose track of time after your first few months.” He scowls to himself, glancing off to the side for a second. “Anyways. Do you remember how you got here?”

I frown deeply at the sudden topic change, racking my brain. “Uh...I was in my room, a few nights ago,” I recall. As I speak, my left arm tingles more, and I flex my fingers to try and get it to go away. “I remember falling asleep, and when I was dreaming - I swear I was dreaming - I saw...uh…” I shake my left hand with a noise of irritation, but that only seems to make the tingling worse.

“You saw who?” Chowder urges me.

“You know. What’s-his-face.” I hold my left arm in my right hand, annoyed at it and myself. “Mister white-eyes.”

Chowder stares at me, and I’m not sure if he’s looking at what I said or my current actions. “You mean - Herobrine?”

“Yes! Thank you. Herobrine.” I just let my left arm drop at this point, reaching over and scratching the wolf behind its ears with my right hand. “Anyways, I saw him and then I blacked out, waking up here, in this...game.” Another frown from me. “I swear I’m dreaming. I swear. How could I be in the game?”

Chowder closes his eyes and sighs again. “I don’t know. But the fact that you saw Herobrine probably has something to do with it.” He pauses, looking at me again. “Did he touch you at all? Any kind of contact?”

“I...think so?” I avoid his gaze, staring at my left arm that is now tingling profusely. “This arm has been a pain since I got here - it has no strength in it and seems to be perpetually asleep.”

Chowder opens his mouth to say something, but he’s cut off by a howl that echoes all throughout the castle. I can see a moment of panic on his face before he whirls around and bolts out of the room, the wolf on the bed hopping down and following suit. I frown, watching them go, before sliding off the bed and heading over to the wooden chest in the corner. Pulling out my backpack from it, I sling it over my shoulder and head off towards the sound of the growing howls.

Making my way through the winding castle is confusing, but I finally find Chowder standing at the battlements, surrounded by wolves, his hair and clothes being blown back by a strong wind. He’s holding a bow with an arrow notched loosely, staring down the path towards the entrance at something.

When he catches sight of me, he growls lowly and glances over. “What are you doing up here?!”

“Investigating,” I shoot back. “Why are you so jumpy?”

He tilts his head down the pathway. I follow the movement with my eyes and notice a small girl on the gravel path, with short black hair and wearing a long dress. Her hair is hiding her eyes. I get a sickening feeling in my stomach just looking at her.

“Who is she?” I ask. “An intruder?”

“About to find that out,” Chowder answers, before raising his voice above the wind and calling down to the girl. “Who are you and what do you want?”

The girl lifts her head, and I can see she has one normal brown eye and one white eye with no pupil or iris or anything that seems to be glowing slightly. Her voice is small, and yet seems to ring out in my mind when she speaks. “Don’t worry. I am merely here for the girl.”

I freeze up, and out of the corner of my eye I notice Chowder glancing over at me again. Thoughts are racing through my mind as I force myself to speak loud enough above the wind. “W-what do you want with me?!”

“I am not authorized to disclose that information,” comes her reply.

“Then no,” Chowder calls, pulling the arrow back and aiming it at her forehead, “you can’t have her.” He releases the arrow with a simple movement, and all of the wolves within sight let out a howl and bolt towards her.

The next part happens so fast. She catches the arrow in midair, snapping it in her fist, and jumping into the fray of wolves. After a few seconds of pained howls and cries, all of the wolves fall over and despawn in puffs of pixelated smoke. The girl brushes off her dress calmly before staring back up at us.

“I’ll ask one more time,” she stresses, and her voice becomes layered as the ghostly image of a man with white eyes flickers into existence beside her. _“Give me the girl.”_

“No!” I shout, my voice shaking in fear. Chowder simply stands there in shock as well.

The girl narrows her eyes and takes a running start towards us, before jumping up and seemingly flying over the battlements, raising her fist. My left arm shoots up automatically, palm open, and time seems to slow down as I witness translucent numbers and letters flowing through it so fast that I can’t focus on any of them.

The numbers and letters seem to click into place, and time resumes its normal pace as a blast of that same energy shoots out from my palm, hitting the girl square in the chest. She gives a shriek and, instead of being thrown back by the force of it, floats off into the air as her whole body dissolves into white pixels before disappearing.

My impulsiveness doesn’t stop there. I vault over the battlements of the castle, landing hard on my feet and breaking into a run once I hit the ground towards the figure in the distance with Chowder giving a shout behind me. My left arm is shooting pain up through my muscles, and my whole body is shaking with power and adrenaline as I raise my left hand again.

“You will _never_ have me, Herobrine!” I shout. _“Never!”_

I jump at Herobrine, and he moves so fast, elbowing me in the chest and knocking me back. I skid across the ground before catching myself, taking in a sharp breath and standing back up, rushing at him again. He raises his hand.

“No!” someone shouts, and Chowder flashes in out of nowhere, standing in front of me with his arms spread apart. Herobrine’s backhand smacks him directly in the face, and time slows again as I watch several lines of what I now guess is code float up from his face and break apart simultaneously before time speeds up again. Chowder is flung to the side by the force of the backhand, slamming into a tree before falling face-first into the dirt, lying still. I give a shout and rush over to him.

 _Touching,_ a voice sounds in my mind, and my head jerks up from Chowder’s still form to face Herobrine watching us. _Very touching._

Is it my imagination, or do I see a small smirk on his face?

He turns and starts to head off down the gravel path, and I stare, dumbfounded, until I summon the courage in myself to speak again. “Where are you going?! Wasn’t it me you wanted?!”

 _You’ve made your intentions clear,_ he says in my mind without turning around or stopping. _Besides, I was never one to finish a fight._

He disappears into the growing mist of the night, and I simply stare at where he was for a while before I remember Chowder again.

Giving a small shout, I turn the wolf-man over onto his back with some effort. I notice the whole right side of his face is slowly dissolving into white pixels as I do so, even when he is laying on his back. I shake him again and again, with a repeated “wake up!” each time, but he doesn’t open his eyes.

So I lean away from him and shout as loud as I can, _“Help!”_

I can feel myself being slowly drained of energy as I do so, standing up and calling out another _“Help!”._ I do it again and again until my throat is sore from shouting, and I can feel my whole body yelling at me with fatigue.

So I nearly drag myself over to a tree next to Chowder, slumping against it and breathing hard, fighting to stay awake.

It doesn’t last long, though, and once I close my eyes, I’m out like a light.

———

_A small burst of grey pixels is spotted by no one, and a small enderman materializes from the cluster, holding a block of grass in his hands. He gazes around, confused. He’s never been this close to a human settlement before. What brought him here? Who summoned him?_

_Until he sees the player and her companion passed out against the trees, and everything starts to make sense._

_She is a very powerful player indeed, having summoned him here._

_He drops his block on the ground, instead picking up the player and setting her over his shoulder with ease. He grabs the hand of her companion, the wolf-man, and then drops it suddenly as a wave of pixels travels up his arm. Frowning, he picks up the man instead by his hoodie, careful to not touch his skin as he hoists him up in his arms as well._

_With the two humans in tow, the enderman focuses, and disappears again in a flash of grey pixels._


	5. The Endermen

_Chapter Four: The Endermen_

———

I open my eyes to a soft white bed. For a moment, I’m confused at the feeling, sitting up and looking around. I seem to be in what looks like a hospital-type room, slightly run down and seemingly unused for a long time. There is a curtain separating me and the empty beds next to me, pulled back to reveal the open space. Glowstone shines through the walls and ceiling, making the area pretty bright.

I spot Chowder in the bed to my right, still passed out, and I frown. This is just making me even more confused. Where are we? Am I dreaming again?

Sliding off the bed and standing, I notice my backpack on the side of the frame. When I dig through it, I find all my stuff still all jumbled up in it. That’s good. Whoever brought us here didn’t steal anything. Not like there was anything valuable in it, though.

I turn back over to Chowder, moving closer to his bed and leaning over him. I notice a large black substance on the right side of his face, almost like a mask. When I touch it, though, it feels like skin, but smoother than normal. I frown. What is this?

Chowder stirs awake just as I pull my hand away, blinking his eyes open and squinting in the bright light. He scowls and sits up, the wolf ears on his head turned back slightly. “Where are we?”

“Not sure,” I respond. “I don’t even know how we got here.”

He looks over at me and frowns again. “What happened to your arm?”

My eyes drop to my left arm, which I notice is covered in the same black substance that’s on his face. I shake it once, and I find out I can move it again without much trouble or tingling sensations like before. I pull my sleeve up and notice it goes all the way up past my shoulder and onto my collarbone. “It’s the same thing with your face? I guess?”

“My face?” Chowder puts a hand to his face, feeling over it with a confused expression. “Do you have a mirror?”

I shake my head no.

We both look over at the sound of a door opening, and I spot two dark, tall figures entering into the room from the doorway, one significantly larger in height than the other. They seem to be arguing in a language that sounds familiar, somehow, and when I focus hard I can pick up on what they’re saying.

**“You know what humans think of us,”** the taller one snaps. **“And still you brought two of them here?”**

**“You didn’t see what I saw!”** the smaller one responds. **“I saw her, I swear! She summoned me!”**

**“Joan is dead, Storm,”** growls the tall one. **“She left no heir whatsoever. How could you have seen her?”**

“Oh god,” Chowder whispers, scrambling out of the bed next to me and pulling a diamond axe seemingly out of thin air. “Endermen.”

“H-hey, no!” I stutter, holding him back. “They’re not hostile; don’t attack them!”

Chowder glances over my shoulder before turning his gaze back to me. “You’re defending them?”

I hear a noise from behind me, and turn to look over my shoulder at the two endermen standing a ways from us, watching us. The smaller one has a look of worry on his face, while the tall one simply seems annoyed. I notice the smaller one has blue-grey eyes instead of the normal purple, and emits a soft trail of grey pixels.

**“Well, Storm,”** says the tall one, **“it seems you were right.”**

No one moves.

The smaller one, who I’m assuming is named Storm, steps forward once. Chowder shoves me out of the way and I stumble at the force of it, watching him swing his axe forward towards the two endermen within that same moment. I give a shout, and so does Storm and the taller enderman as they both teleport to opposite ends of the room. I scramble after Chowder just as he lets out a growl, grabbing his hoodie and pulling him back, away from the two endermen. He stumbles backwards, and before he can recover I snatch the axe from his hand and hold it tightly to my chest.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” I yell, feeling a sort of rage bubble up inside me that I’ve never felt before. “I told you, they’re not hostile, so don’t attack them!”

“Why are you defending them?!” Chowder shouts back at me after he recovers. “They’re monsters, just like everything else! Like those zombies that almost killed you that night!”

“At least endermen aren’t constantly out for your blood!” I retort. “Hardly comparable!”

Chowder growls at me, yet doesn’t say anything in response, instead just staring at me before sighing loudly and pinching the bridge of his nose. “Give me my axe back,” he demands, holding out his hand.

I stare back at him. “Only if you put it away right after.”

“And leave myself defenseless against these monsters? For all I know, we could be in the End itself!”

“If we’re in the End, then why isn’t everything blocky?! Isn’t that a feature of the game that you say we’re in?”

Chowder falls silent once again, fuming once more. I feel a short swell of pride in my chest, knowing that I had bested him in this verbal fistfight once more.

Finally, he sighs again, looking annoyed. “I promise to put my axe away once you give it back,” he reluctantly agrees. I watch him cautiously before slowly handing it to him, and he takes it without another word, tossing it up with a flick of his wrist. The axe twirls a bit before disappearing into thin air.

I gape at him. “How do you do that?”

“Inventory,” he says shortly, staring at the door where the two endermen appeared from. “We should get out of here.”

**“Won’t you stay for a bit longer?”** a voice asks, and I turn my head around to look at Storm, who has his arms pressed tight to his sides. The tall enderman shoots him a glare from across the room.

**“We really should get going,”** I say impulsively. **“We really don’t know where we are and it’s kind of freaking me out.”**

I get stares from all around the room.

“Where did...where did…” Chowder stutters, now gaping at me. “Where did you learn to speak Ender?”

“I - what?” I ask him. “No, I was just-“

**“I told you so, Myst!”** I hear Storm shout at the tall enderman who, when I turn to look, is staring at me in shock. **“I told you so! Joan!”** Storm now turns to me, gesturing with wide arms. **“Joan, the Queen, the myth, the legend, is back!”** He turns on his heel and dashes past Myst, out of the room, shouting some more.

Chowder simply blinks and rubs his eyes. “This is too much crazy stuff for one day,” he sighs, heading towards the doorway.

However, when he walks past the tall enderman named Myst and opens the door, he is almost run over by Storm and a whole group of endermen rushing into the room, all shouting indistinctly. They crowd into the small area, and one of them picks me up effortlessly, holding me high above their head while the group still chants. I give a shriek and flail in their grasp.

“Put me down!” I shout. “Put me down!”

The enderman holding me hostage does not put me down, but Myst strides over from the corner and plucks me out of their arms. He carries me over to a clear space in the room and sets me down on my feet before turning to the rest of the endermen.

**“Don’t you people know how to behave?”** he snaps, and when he speaks the group falls silent. **“If this truly is our Queen, then you should treat her with respect. Chanting and carrying her like we’re a cult is _not_ that.”**

I hear mumbled “sorry”s from the group, and Myst watches them for a bit before turning and staring down at me. **“Little human, what is your name?”**

I blink. **“Uh, I go by Shado,”** I respond.

“You did it again!” I hear Chowder say from behind me, but I don’t turn to look at him. “You spoke Ender again!”

**“Shado.”** I hear Myst testing out my name. **“What an interesting name. Do you know why you’re here?”**

**“I...don’t,”** I answer. **“I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”**

**“You had summoned one of us to your location,”** he explains, gesturing to the group. **“Specifically, the one named Storm. He noticed you and your friend-“** a nod to Chowder- **“were in trouble and brought you here, to the End.”**

**“We’re in the End?”** I echo, turning to Chowder. I only vaguely notice that my voice changes when I speak. “Did you hear that? He said we’re in the End.”

Chowder’s face deadpans, his ears pinned back to his head. “You’re kidding me.”

Myst brushes past me as he walk-glides towards the door. **“Let’s walk and talk,”** he says, motioning for me to follow. I do just as he ducks under the doorframe and disappears into the hallway, with Chowder falling in step behind me.

**“This castle was built long ago by one of the first Queens,”** Myst explains as we walk through the hallways of end stone bricks and purpur blocks and obsidian, lit by end rods and glowstone. **“Their reign expanded for years upon years within the worlds that we inhabit, along with the other leaders of mobs.”** I notice we’re steadily climbing upwards, and a glance back shows Chowder still following, along with the rest of the group of endermen tagging along a little bit behind him. I don’t think he understands a word of what Myst is saying. **“However, these Moblords have since disappeared from existence, leaving most species - including us - without a leader. But now, since you’re here…”**

He brings us out onto a balcony overlooking the area, and one look at the static sky above confirms what he was saying before. Obsidian pillars sprout out of the landscape in a circular pattern around the bedrock portal in the center. Endermen mill about in the area, and some look up at us when we appear on the balcony.

**“Since you’re here,”** Myst continues, **“I believe the winds of change are upon us. I believe it is time for us to regain our rightful place in this world alongside humans, and not underneath them. With your help, we can achieve that easily.”**

I don’t like the way he says that.

**“And what if I am not your queen?”** I ask tentatively. **“What then?”**

**“If that is the case, then you may return back to your home without any trouble.”** Myst pauses, not looking at me. **“Although, as stated before, we have reason to believe you are.”**

I stare out upon the area, watching more and more endermen crowd around the castle, murmuring things that I can’t make out from this distance. It’s frightening, the burden being placed on my shoulders right now by these strangers.

**“What if I don’t want to help?”** I ask again.

**“Won’t you please?”** a voice calls from behind me, and Storm makes his way over to me through the crowd. **“I know what I saw that night. I brought you here and had you healed.”** He frowns, looking away. **“Of course, you don’t owe me anything, but…”**

**“Yeah, what’s up with that?”** I question, waving my blackened arm at him. **“What is this stuff and what does it do?”**

**“It’s a substance made out of endermites,”** another voice calls, and a third enderman makes his way out of the crowd to stand next to Storm. This one is about normal height for an enderman - taller than Storm, but shorter than Myst - with the normal purple eyes and pixels trailing behind him. **“It’s a heavy-duty healing type of substance, specifically for potentially fatal illnesses, like your and your friend’s disease.”**

I blink. **“Disease?”**

All three endermen stare at me. I’m starting to get the feeling I’m making a fool of myself.

**“You don’t know?”** the enderman asks. **“The disease where you fade away?”**

I start to speak with the intent of saying ‘no’, but I am reminded of the night where I witnessed Chowder’s face dissolving into white pixels, and pause in my movements. **“You mean that thing with his face?”** I finally ask, pointing at Chowder.

The enderman nods. **“That’s just one type of the disease - where you fade away just hours after you’ve contacted it. The other type is one that corrupts your entire being, making your organs fail one by one after a period of weeks or months. It’s frightening, disgusting, and we’re not sure what causes it. We only know that this substance is able to counteract it.”**

**“So...how do you know about it at all?”** I ask slowly. 

The enderman pauses, and his face takes on a sort of look that I don’t exactly recognize. Something tells me he wasn’t expecting me to say that. 

Storm opens his mouth to say something, and then closes it again as the other enderman speaks once more. **“I...we’ve had many of our kind contact the disease, the first kind, and we’ve only been able to save a few of them. But…”** he pauses again, looking away. **“One of my sons contacted the second kind - we’re still not sure how - and we weren’t able to get to him in time. It’s not something you notice so easily.”** He gives a heavy sigh, looking back at me with a saddened expression. **“I...I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to give you a sob story…”**

I simply frown in response, and then make my way over to him, wrapping my arms around his waist in a hug. He gives a short breath, and I can tell he wasn’t expecting the movement. 

**“I’m sorry for your loss,”** I say, raising my head up to look at him, and I find him staring down at me. **“Is there anything I can do to help?”**

**“Not for me, no,”** he responds, placing his hand on my head and gently ruffling my hair. **“But I’m sure Myst and Storm would appreciate it greatly if you stuck around with us.”**

I let go of him and nod, turning back to Myst. **“My mind’s been made up,”** I say. **“I’ll stay.”**

A cheer rings up across the crowd of endermen, and I’m lifted up from the ground into many embraces at once. I shriek in surprise once more, and Myst orders to put me down again, but it takes a while before I’m set down back on the ground. The noise doesn’t die down, though, and It’s a bit before I catch sight of Chowder making his way to me. 

"Mind translating for me what just happened?” he asks over the din. 

“I’m staying with the endermen,” I summarize for him. “They think I’m their queen reincarnated.” 

"They- what?” 

“Long story, but you get to go home if you’d like.” 

“Please.” 

I turn back to the crowd of endermen that have been shuffling around us this whole time and raise my voice over the noise. **“Can someone take Chowder back home?”**

**“Of course!”** a voice calls, and an arm is placed on Chowder’s shoulder and he is teleported off back to the Overworld, leaving me alone with the endermen. 

——— 

It takes a while to get used to things here, in the End, but I settle in easily after that. The castle that was said to have been built by one of their Queens has been kept up very well - maybe because there is no weather in the End, or maybe because the endermen generations have anticipated their Queen’s return. Or both. I don’t bother to ask. 

Either way, I work as much as I can - mapping out our little chunk of the universe as well as the Overworld and putting the pieces together in the map room of the castle, for example. In my free time - which I have a lot of, as I’m not particularly strong to help out with anything else - I explore the castle itself, trying to find my way around. The endermen let me sleep in the Queen’s chambers whenever I get tired, which is a blessing but also somewhat unnerving. 

I bond with everyone as well. Myst introduces me to those who are around, and we grow closer together every day. It’s like a second home, and I almost forget what Chowder told me about this not being a dream. 

Almost. 


	6. Enderqueen

_Chapter Five: Enderqueen_

\------

I pace around in my room, the Queen’s chambers of the castle, occasionally picking at spots on my left arm with my right hand and fidgeting with my hands nervously. I’m waiting for Storm to come in to see me, because there’s something I have to show him in private. He’s out with a scouting group tonight in the Overworld, trying to map the route to the nearest portal.

Although he seems to be taking quite a long time to show up. How long has he been out for? He said he’d be back before sunrise. Clocks don’t work in the End, so I have no way of knowing if it’s daytime in the Overworld yet or not.

The more I worry, the more I pick up speed with my pacing, and eventually I find myself walking in a tight circle in the center of the room and making myself dizzy. So I plop down cross-legged right where I was standing just as one of the doors to the room open.

**“Shado?”** a familiar voice calls, and I glance up to see Storm peeking his head in to the room and catching sight of me. **“You wanted to see me?”**

I nod, motioning for him to come in. He does, closing the door slowly behind him. **“What’s up?”**

I stay quiet for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath to try and ease the knot in my stomach, pulling off the black hoodie I am wearing and standing up. Storm’s eyes widen at the sight of me - the right half of my face and my right arm are covered in the black substance that was originally only on my left arm at the beginning of my stay here.

**“This is what’s up,”** I say, standing with my arms spread before him. **“Why is it doing this?”**

He squints for a bit, raising his hand to his mouth in a sort of thinking pose. **“Maybe the corruption has spread to other parts of your body,”** he offers, **“and the substance is trying to counteract it?”**

**“That’s not good.”** I put my hoodie back on and plop back down on the ground again. **“I don’t feel corrupted anymore though? I feel like I can use all my limbs again, at least.”**

**“That’s a start.”** Storm half walks, half glides over to me in the way that endermen do, standing over me and staring down at me with a mixture of confusion and concern. **“Should we talk to Stratus about it?”**

I glance back up at Storm, mulling over my options. Stratus is the “healer” enderman of the group, the one who told me about the substance the night of my arrival. According to Storm, he also is the one who saw to me and Chowder that very same night, risking his own life to not get infected by the same “illness” that we both had. He, also, is Storm’s adoptive dad.

I don’t really see a problem with talking to him - Stratus is extremely patient, and his knowledge of medicine would be helpful towards figuring out why this thing is acting the way it is. So I give the small blue-eyed enderman a nod, pushing myself up to my feet and pulling the hood of my jacket over my head. **“Do you know where he is?”**

Storm looks to the side. **“No? He should still be in the Overworld, I think. I can teleport you there.”**

I make a face. **“Teleporting hurts my head,”** I admit, starting to walk out of the room. **“I’d rather take the portal.”**

Storm stays silent behind me as I push open the large double doors and step out into the hallway, eventually making my way towards the front gate and coming out to the expanse that is the End. The obsidian pillars circle the area, and it seems that we are alone - the silence is almost deafening.

**“Uh.”** Storm catches up to me as I head towards the portal, his arms wrapped around himself and looking nervous. **“Where is everyone?”**

**“Overworld, maybe?”** I offer, although the anxiety radiating off of him doesn’t help my case.

**“There should still be a few of us here,”** Storm responds, his voice low. **“But...everyone’s gone except for us.”**

I frown, but his statement hangs in the air as I notice a figure near the bedrock portal in the center of the pillars. I squint, picking up my pace slightly as the figure slowly comes into view.

It turns out to be a human wearing a light grey hoodie with a skeleton face on it and blue jeans. Their face is masked by their hood - but they notice me as I make my way towards them, jumping off the side of the portal and landing neatly on the ground. “Sister!” they call in a familiar voice, spreading their arms wide to me.

The comment makes me freeze in my spot, and I can feel my face has scrunched up in a questioning way as I make a noise of confusion. A quick glance at Storm tells me he’s doing the same.

This goes on for a few moments before the figure lowers their arms. “You don’t recognize me?” they say, starting to make their way over to us. “I thought my voice would give it away for sure.”

Storm steps forward, putting his arm out in front of me almost as if protecting me. I can see him trembling slightly from anxiousness. **“I’ll protect you if anything goes wrong.”**

**“You don’t have to do that,”** I respond, placing a hand on his arm and lowering it for him, stepping forward and calling out to the stranger before us. “Who are you?”

The figure stops, and I can feel them staring directly at me from under their hood. “Come on, nerd. Take a guess.”

I have an idea on who this is from the ‘nerd’ part now, but a part of me refuses to believe it. “Take off your hood,” I demand, my left hand twitching slightly from nervousness.

The person lets out a dramatic sigh, pulling off their hood and messing with their hair a bit. I can now see their face - short brown hair with one green eye and one white eye and freckles plastering their face. Their - his - look is so familiar, one that strikes a pang in my heart. But it can’t be him. It can’t be him.

I go out on a limb anyway. “Ryan…?”

He snaps his fingers in response, giving me finger guns. “Bingo! You figured it out.”

I gape at him. “Wh...what?” I stutter, my brain whirring. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

Ryan twirls a lock of his hair, not looking at me. “Through the portal, obviously. And I’m here for a favor.”

“No, like...how did you get here?” I ask again. “Like...in the game?”

That’s the first time I hear myself call this a game, and I scold myself internally as Ryan takes a moment to speak. “Well, I asked for a favor from a certain someone, and now I’m here. I do have to repay it soon, though…” He scratches the back of his head nervously. “You understand how these things go.”

**“What’s this ‘favor’ that you speak of?”** Storm asks, slowly raising his arm up in front of me again.

I push it back down again and give him a look before translating for Ryan. “Storm wants to know what the favor is.”

Ryan blinks once at me. “They have names?”

“Of course they have names!” I snap, feeling hurt by his comment.

“Did they come with names or did you give them names?” he asks further, squinting at me.

He does have a point - I can’t exactly translate names from the warbles of ender speak, no matter how well my brain can process it, so their names are half what I hear and half what I give to them. But I shout “That’s not the point!” anyway, feeling the heat of embarrassment rise to my face. “Tell us what your plan is!”

Ryan gives an exasperated sigh, shoving his hands into his hoodie pockets. “Okay. You see this?” he asks, pointing to his one white eye. “This is the mark of the man who brought me here. I asked for passage here in exchange for loyalty to him.” He drops his hand again. “But now that apparently isn’t good enough. He wants loyalty from you too.”

I stare blankly at him.

“Do I need to spell it out for you?” Ryan sighs again after a few moments of silence. “Herobrine wants you to join him.”

“No, I got that!” I snap. “Why me, though? What did I do to warrant his attention? What is his plan?”

Storm glances around himself nervously as Ryan answers my question. “Because you’re the Enderqueen, of course.”

“I...what?” I look over at Storm, then back to Ryan, and then back to Storm. I’m confused for a good long moment before remembering what was said to me that fateful night that I was brought here. **“Is this about the whole Joan thing again?”**

**“...Yes.”** Storm hangs his head almost in shame. **“Like Myst said, we believe you’re her, just reincarnated. And it seems the Ghost believes it too.”**

“His plan is for total control over Minecraftia,” Ryan continues, stepping closer to us. “He wants to unite all the Moblords under his rule and ‘take back from the players what is rightfully ours’.”

I stay silent as Ryan bridges the gap between us, stopping a few feet away from me. “What do you think, sis?”

“I...doesn’t he remember what happened last time?” I ask quietly. “I said no.”

Ryan runs a hand through his hair, not looking at me again. “Yeah, he told me that. He also said this is your last chance. If you don’t accept, well…”

He clicks his tongue once, and suddenly rattles and clacks fill the silence. I snap my head around to see skeletons of all kinds fill the area - perched on the tops of the obsidian pillars, on the ground a fair distance away from us. All of them have their bows hanging loosely by their sides, but I know just how efficient skeletons are with their weapons.

“If you don’t accept, you die,” Ryan warns, staring directly at me. “For real this time. No more putting it off.”

I huddle close to Storm, my left hand twitching more again as I flick through my inventory - a trick I learned from Chowder - and pull out my obsidian blade from seemingly nowhere. I’m terrified, I’ll admit - my whole body is shaking - but I have to be brave now.

“I’ve made my decision already,” I say carefully, staring my brother back down as best I can. “I refuse to join him.”

Ryan grits his teeth, clicks his tongue again, and the skeletons all raise their bows in unison. I press my back up against Storm’s as Ryan pulls out an ender pearl from his pocket, tossing it up and down in his hand.

“It’s your funeral, then,” he says, throwing the pearl high up into the air just as the first volley of arrows rains down on us.


	7. Skeletons

_Chapter Six: Skeletons_

—

The arrows rain down on us as Storm and I break apart, him teleporting out of range of the weapons and I running as fast as I can towards the nearest skeleton group. They back up as I swing my sword down onto one of their heads, cracking it’s skull and watching it despawn in a puff of white pixels. I whip around in a circle, slashing at more skeletons - one catches on my sword and goes flying to my left, and yet the others are out of range, aiming more arrows at me and firing rapidly. I duck under the second wave, leaping forward out of the barrage and barreling into another skeleton. I slam the hilt of my sword down onto it’s skull and only vaguely notice it despawn as I jump back up and slash upwards at yet another skeleton.

A third wave of arrows comes raining down on us, and I jump out of the way again, just barely making it out of range. With a quick glance around the area, I notice that Storm is holding his own against more skeletons, and yet Ryan is rushing towards him with his own sword drawn.

 _“Watch out!”_ I yell instinctively, and I run as fast as I can in that same direction, my sword raised. To my surprise, as I jump forward, I clip more than a few blocks ahead in a flash of purple pixels and slam my sword down on the ground right behind Ryan. He jumps, whirling around, and I can see his left arm - his sword arm - is now just bone.

He slashes at me, and I barely have time to block as the vibration of steel against obsidian rattles through my body. I’m pushed back a bit by the force of his attack, but I recover quickly and swipe at him again. He jumps back, but stumbles forward as Storm slashes down his back. I stab forward, and the blade barely catches his side, cutting a slash in his hoodie and shirt but not his skin. He stumbles to the side, his teeth bared, throwing another ender pearl out of the way of us and teleporting away as another wave of arrows rains down on me and Storm.

This time, I don’t rush out of the way of the arrows as fast, and one catches me on my left shoulder. I scream a staticky scream of pain and leap towards Ryan again, teleporting in a flash of purple pixels and slamming my sword down right in front of him. He whirls out with a kick that hits the side of my head and I am sent flying, skidding along the stone ground before slamming into an obsidian pillar and falling forward.

 **“Shado!”** I hear Storm call, but I don’t get up just yet. My whole body screams in agony, and I have no every left to move. Eventually, though, I do struggle to push myself up just as I hear footsteps heading my direction. A glance up, and even though my swimming vision I can make out Ryan walking almost calmly towards me, his sword by his side. In the background, Storm is once again busy with the skeletons.

“Sorry, sis,” Ryan says, staring down at me, his white eye almost glowing in the lack of light. “Orders are orders.”

He puts his shoe under my chin and forces my head up to look at him. In turn, I spit a bit of blood on to his jeans and glare back. “You suck.”

“Looks like the game will have to find a new Queen,” he says as if I hadn’t spoken, training his sword in between my eyes. I don’t look away, staring defiantly at him again.

“Goodbye, sister.”

 **“No!”** A flash of grey pixels shows up in my peripheral vision, and I watch Storm barrel into Ryan right in front of me, dropping me back onto the ground with a thud. I can hear Ryan screech, footsteps, and then a clawed hand touching my back.

The next thing I know, my face is incredibly cold, and I have grass in my mouth.

I struggle to push myself up, spitting the grass out of my mouth and holding my pounding head with one hand. It feels like someone slammed a hammer against my brain - which, honestly, isn’t too far off from the truth. I close my eyes to keep the world from spinning, pinching the bridge of my nose with my other hand and taking deep breaths to stop the nausea.

Eventually the throbbing subsides, and I can feel the pain from the arrow in my shoulder again. I grimace, pushing myself up to my feet and observing the area around me. Snow gathers at my feet, and small piles of it dot the forest-like area. A glance up towards the grey sky tells me the snow is falling gently towards me.

So I’m in the Overworld now. Storm must’ve teleported me here.

...Oh, god. That means he’s holding his own against Ryan and the skeletons back in the End.

I curse out loud, scrambling through my inventory, checking for a certain stack of items. I find it easily - a stack of Eyes of Ender - and one appears in my hand as I grasp it tightly. I was given these to use only in emergencies if I ever needed to return to the End - and this is an emergency.

I hold onto the Eye tightly, ignoring the pain in my shoulder as best I can before throwing it in front of me. It floats up to the sky, pointing the way before shattering in a burst of purple pixels. The shards surround me as I start off in that direction - west, I figure - holding the arrow wound with my right hand.

To my surprise, I only go a few chunks and use one other Eye before I pass a clearing, hearing a familiar voice call my name. It is so weak, I barely hear it, but I recognize it instantly. Storm’s voice.

I dip into the clearing, panic rising in my core as I see the enderman in question lying against a tree. I clip forward, appearing right next to him in a flash of purple pixels and holding my hands to my mouth in horror. He’s soaked to the bone, with numerous arrows sticking out of his form and gashes everywhere. They’re all bleeding pretty badly, staining the snow and grass below a deep purple.

My mind whirs, and after a moment I take off my hoodie with some difficulty and press it against the largest wound on his chest. He gives a low moan of pain at the action, glancing down at me, his storm-grey eyes cloudy already.

 **“H-hey...you don’t have to do that,”** he says as I shift against him.

 **“I’m going to!”** I snap, my voice a higher pitch than normal with fear. **“You’ll die without it!”**

 **“I’m...dying anyway,”** he laughs, but it soon turns into a cough, spitting more blood on the ground. **“He was...too strong for me.”**

I curse again and drop the hoodie, holding his face and staring directly at him. **“You shouldn’t have stayed and fought!”**

 **“I know.”** He sighs, not meeting my gaze. **“S-sorry…”**

 **“Don’t apologize, you big idiot,”** I snap again, although I can feel tears start to gather in my eyes. **“But keep talking. I don’t want to forget your voice.”**

Storm gives another ragged sigh, his whole body trembling as he pulls me close against him, being careful to avoid the arrow in my shoulder. I can hear his heartbeat now - terrifyingly slow, and getting more faint by the minute. I bite back my tears, though, as he speaks again.

**“Please...be strong. I won’t be around for you to rely on anymore. They all know your face now.…The Ghost, he...he will most certainly find you again. Seek out people you know you can trust. Please, f-for all of us...live.”**

His grip on me slackens and he closes his eyes, leaning back against the tree. A few ticks more and I can no longer hear his heartbeat.

I can’t help it anymore. I break away from him just as the tears flow freely down my face and watch as his body dissolves into grey pixels before disappearing entirely. The only thing left on the ground where he once was is his blood, my hoodie - and a gleaming obsidian blade. My sword.

I gather the items with trembling hands, dragging my sword along behind me as I leave the clearing, not bothering to put it in my inventory. My whole body is shaking, but I have to be strong. For Storm.

I continue west, ignoring the pain and exhaustion in my body as the sun sets on the horizon.


End file.
